Schenectady hate crime victim charged with hoax

A Schenectady man apparently had his home on Chiswell Road vandalized with at least three swastikas between Thursday night and Friday morning. (Robert Downen/Times Union)

A Schenectady man apparently had his home on Chiswell Road vandalized with at least three swastikas between Thursday night and Friday morning. (Robert Downen/Times Union)

Schenectady hate crime victim charged with hoax

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Schenectady

The Schenectady man who alleged he'd been the victim of a hate crime actually spray-painted swastikas on his Chiswell Road home himself, city police said Monday.

Andrew King, 54, was charged with falsely reporting an incident, a misdemeanor, after an investigation into the Feb. 10 incident, police said.

King also was arrested on an outstanding warrant for second-degree harassment, a violation, stemming from a Feb. 15 incident on State Street where he allegedly made threats to harm another person, police said.

The spray-painted Nazi symbols at 523 Chiswell Road came amid a wave of hateful vandalism across the state and country.

At the time, King said he was Jewish and had told the Daily Gazette he planned to keep the symbols up.

"This can show people who thrive on hate, in my opinion, that love trumps hate in the long run," he had said. "I will consult with the religious community and see how long we should leave them up, Jewish, Christian and Muslim."

King currently is being held in city lockup awaiting arraignment on Tuesday by a city judge.